Manifestation
by Metas Mundorum Petivero
Summary: In the world of Remnant, less than 1% of the population unlocks Manifestation. Of that 1%, an estimated 97% hold the occupation of hunter or are a hunter-in-training. Less than one-quarter of fully-fledged hunters ever unlock Manifestation. Some look at Manifestation as a gift just like a Semblance, but many choose to view it as a curse.
1. Routine Routine Routine

**Author's Notes: Weiss is acting a little out of character in this first chapter, but I have specific reasoning for why she is acting this way. More author's notes at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 1

Routine. Routine. Routine.

Weiss woke up to the darkness of her room. She knew she had gotten enough sleep, but even so, she tugged her comforter over her head not yet ready to face her day. She squeezed her eyes shut and mentally tried to pull every ounce of energy together. She mustered all the cheerfulness and positivity she could.

Weiss rolled over towards her nightstand. Arm extended and fingers probing, she felt around searching for the remote. After a moment of searching, she snatched it up and pressed the large button in the center of the remote. All the lights in her suite gradually turned on starting dim growing brighter over ten seconds till they were at their brightest. Weiss stretched, letting out a long yawn, slowly opening her eyes.

All at once she was full of energy sitting bolt upright. Weiss looked around the room. She spotted Myrtenaster leaning against her desk.

"Good morning, Myrtenaster!" Weiss sang out.

Weiss leapt from her bed. She did a quick pirouette, grabbing up Myrtenaster halfway through. She gave the rapier a quick flick of the wrist, sending its revolving Dust chamber spinning. Glancing at the chamber, she was quickly satisfied that all Dust compartments were full even after her long practice yesterday. Setting Myrtenaster down next to the bathroom door, she strolled over to her closet and picked out a combat skirt for the day. She wanted to get in some more practice today. After all, she felt like she had earned after completing the ten-page report on Manifestation yesterday afternoon. She snatched her tiara and anything else she might need to wear for her day. She set her outfit down in a neat pile on the end of her bed, before prancing into the bathroom.

"I'll be out in a bit," she called to Myrtenaster as she began to undress not bothering to close the bathroom door.

Weiss pulled off her nightgown and threw it into the hamper. She picked up the coin from the counter and flicked it into the air. A glyph formed in its path to the ground propelling it into the air once again. Every time it fell a glyph would form once more to send it into the air once more. Weiss closed her eyes and after a brief moment chanted, "Tails bath, heads shower!" She opened her eyes to see the coin hit the ground and spin. She watched as it spun for three solid seconds before stopping and falling on tails. She ran over and turned on the bath's water to the hottest it could go.

She peered back at the coin. "I am _not_ picking that up," Weiss threatened sitting on the edge of the tub as she waited for it to fill so she could climb into the water's warm embrace.

Her bathroom was of the highest quality and immaculately clean, but that didn't mean that Weiss was going to pick something up off of a bathroom's floor even if she was the one to leave it there. The shower and bath were separate from each other and both quite spacious. The bathtub was circular with twelve jets set into its side. One jet set at the point of each arm of the Schnee family crest that covered the bottom of the tub with the drain in its center. The entire wall opposite of the bath and shower was covered by a large mirror only briefly interrupted by sink and counter. A thin layer of condensation formed on the mirror from the bath's steam.

Weiss looked down into the tub and found that it was almost full. She reached over and turned the water off. Weiss dipped her fingers in to feel the temperature. It was extremely hot perfect to ward off the cold Atlesian winters. She stirred the water around a bit with her hand before slipping into the tub. She immersed herself up to her chin feeling it cleanse her. The heat burned her melting away anything unclean and sealing any cracks in her perfection. The heat thawed the aches and pains allowing her muscles to flow with the water and her exhaustion forgotten with the steam.

* * *

Weiss exited the bathroom draped in one of the Schnee bathrobes that hung at the entrance. It was snowy white with blue stitching and the SDC logo embroidered on the back. She grabbed Myrtenaster and slid the rapier into one of the bathrobe's tie's loops to secure Myrtenaster to her side.

"Let's see what Klein has whipped up for breakfast," She said to her loyal rapier.

Weiss went through the only other door in her suite other than the bathroom door. She was faced with the study-dining-training room. The door opened to the dining area of the two-story room. In front of her lay the large circular table with six ornate chairs placed around it with too much space between them for comfortable conversation. The table sat on the semicircular balcony that overlooked the modest ballroom below. On either side of the balcony were mirrored staircases that curved down to the ballroom. There were galleries on both levels that wrapped around the other three sides of the ballroom mostly featuring her recent works as well as the occasional priceless pieces that her father had given to her. The ballroom itself Weiss mainly used as a training area to practice with Myrtenaster and her Semblance. On the other side of the dining table from the ballroom and galleries was her study. In the corner of the study were her easel and art supplies. Her large antique desk sat centered splitting the artistic side from the library. Four towering bookcases bursting with books lined the walls from her desk to the door to her room. Three and a half of them were nonfiction with the rest being classical fiction. The nonfiction books included a complete encyclopedia, reference books, compilations of essays or articles on a variety of important topics, years of textbooks for several subjects, a dictionary and thesaurus, several art books, and a book on wine tasting that she had never opened. Her report on Manifestation still sat out on her desk from yesterday.

Weiss picked up her report from her desk and walked to the dining table where her breakfast waited. Now would be as good a time as any to read it over while eating her breakfast. "Morning, Klein," Weiss called to the room though no one was anywhere to be seen.

Before giving her food the slightest glance she took a long sip from her coffee. It was how Weiss always took her coffee almost black with the slightest hint of mint and hot enough to easily burn her if she wasn't careful. She breathed in the aroma in a long inhale savoring it for a moment before slowly letting it out.

Her breakfast was a bowl of yogurt with some granola and berries dispersed through it. That's what her breakfast was every other day and she liked it that way. What she stared at now was not a bowl of yogurt, it was not granola, and it was not berries. In front of Weiss sat a plate of eggs benedict dripping in hollandaise sauce with steam wafting up from the rich meal.

"Klein," Weiss sighed exasperated, "What is this, a special occasion? I hope you know I have no idea which month it is let alone the day!"

Weiss stared up towards the ballroom ceiling waiting for an answer that would not come before sighing and accepting her breakfast. Settling in her chair, Weiss pulled out the Manifestation report to go over with her breakfast. Flipping through it, she noted its coldness with satisfaction until near the conclusion where it seemed to go a little soft when talking about her family's situation with Manifestation. Weiss was aiming for the report to have a cold and analytical tone to it, but she had a harder time than she had expected when it crossed into such a personal area. Rereading the section on Schnee Manifestation, she resolved that tomorrow she would have to edit the section or replace it entirely. She finished the conclusion halfway through her eggs benedict and noticed that there were several other pages behind her essay that she had grabbed by accident. Looking over the stowaway papers, her eyes quickly lit up as she looked down fondly upon her most recently finished song. Reading through "Beacons", she quickly came to an important decision.

"Sorry, Myrtenaster," Weiss said to her rapier, "but we're going to have to delay training a bit."

She picked up the report as well as the sheet music and to her room. Halfway to her bedroom, Weiss paused, turned on her heel, and pointed at the remnants of her meal. "I know that you were trying to do something nice for me," Weiss said addressing the room, "but I just can't eat that much, Klein."

Weiss paused for a moment in thought.

"You certainly do leave me wondering what the occasion is though."

She set her rapier and the papers on her bed and headed into her bathroom to brush her teeth. As she brushed, she found her mind wandered to wondering about what could have caused Klein to change her breakfast. She knew Klein wouldn't do such a thing without adequate reason. After she was done brushing, she refocussed on her day putting the thoughts aside as she knew she would not be privy to their answers. She hung up her bathrobe to return to her bedroom to dress for the day. Weiss dressed quickly, placed Myrtenaster at her side, did up her ponytail placing it to the side in the icicle tiara that she favored. She pressed a button on the remote and retrieved the papers from her bed.

Weiss returned the report to her desk and headed down to the ballroom where a small raised circular platform stood waiting with music stand on it. The lights dimmed as she approached the waiting platform. She blinked against the spotlight that was suddenly trained on her. After setting the sheet music on its stand, she closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, and rested her hand on Myrtenaster. This would be her first time singing "Beacons" all the way through.

As always, on the first time through a new song, Weiss just focused on hitting all of the correct notes.

It took her several times through before she was doing all the notes reliably.

She then started on the easiest part of her singing routine. Weiss kept doing the notes as perfectly as she could, but this time through she focused on her enunciation. Weiss refused to be one of those singers who would slur their words together. It took two times to get the enunciation perfect, but it came rather easily to her.

Now she got to what always drained her the most in her routine. Picturing the meaning behind all the words, she put as much emotion into the song as she could. Weiss tried to pour as much of her heart and soul into the song as she dared. By the end, she felt exhausted but had to sing it one last time.

She moved the music stand and sheet music aside from the platform. Weiss stood in the center of the platform sang "Beacons" the best she could from memory. She propelled every word with every note with perfect enunciation and filled with emotion. As it always was upon singing a song the last time through her routine, it felt flawless, and try as she might Weiss could find no fault in it. It would have been perfect if it wasn't for a lingering sadness that seemed to weigh down all of her music.

Upon finishing, Weiss collapsed on the platform trying to catch her breath. She was mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted almost to a breaking point.

"See this is why we have to do this before training and not after," Weiss panted to Myrtenaster, "I would have never gotten through the first verse after a hard practice. I," she paused and looked down at the rapier, "I hope you know you give me the strength and courage to sing, even to just an empty room."

Weiss shakily stood to her feet. She retrieved the sheet music and placed the music stand back on the circular platform. She climbed the stairs to return the son to her desk. Turning around to face the room, she was unsurprised to see that it had returned to normal. What did surprise her was a fruit salad that sat at the dining table. Looking at it made her notice hunger gnawing at her stomach. She wondered how much time had she lost to singing. She walked over and popped a blueberry into her mouth, but she was immediately filled with guilt upon swallowing. Her thoughts drifted to her heavy morning meal.

Weiss cleared her throat and addressed the room, "Klein, thank you for lunch, but," she paused a moment, "but that breakfast filled me up. I think I'll just skip lunch today."

She turned around and snagged a book of winter landscape paintings from the shelf. Weiss retired to her room to rest before training, setting Myrtenaster at her door. Laying on her bed, Weiss perused the artbook.

The landscapes were desolate, cold, snowy, and without blemish. Most important of all they were somewhere else even if the location had only been fabricated in the painter's mind. She read about the technique, style, history, and relevance, but mostly just thought about the locations themselves. Her eyes rested on _Vale Barrier Mountains: Grace_. It was the _Grace_ piece in the _Vale Barrier Mountains_ series. Her eyes then flicked up to the original two-hundred-year-old painting that hung where her window had once been. It was the beautiful sight she got to wake up to every morning. She sighed and climbed to her feet.

"Myrtenaster," she muttered letting a hint of despondence creep into her voice, "let's go."

Weiss took the rapier up in her left hand and the remote in her right and proceded down to the ballroom. She hit a sequence of keys on the remote before placing it on the floor at the foot of the staircase. She took up a stance holding Myrtenaster straight vertically in front of her in the center of the ballroom. She waited for the warm-up to start at its random interval.

A tone sounded to her side as a large red orb appeared in mid-air. She lunged at it quickly stabbing it and withdrawing as she heard another tone come from behind her. Weiss spun on her heel and impaled the new target. Both targets vanished instantly as her blade passed through them. The tones and orbs continued as the warm-up continued. It grew more difficult over time as various aspects changed to increase the challenge. Over time the orbs that were left untended began flash indicating time running down. Their blinking would speed up the longer they were left alone. As the warm-up continued the targets that were produced grew to be smaller and smaller than the targets that were produced earlier in the warm-up. Occasionally multiple orbs would appear at the same tone. These were the main times which Weiss chose to use her Semblance. She would either dash at them in succession using white glyphs or shoot icicles using blue glyphs. The hardest change in difficulty was when the orbs began to move in randomly generated patterns which very little to no actual pattern distinguishable to them.

Weiss relentlessly skewered target after target with ruthless efficiency until she could continue no longer. She collapsed in a heap panting for breath for the second time in her day. The least recent orb blinked out and a deep tone of finality played causing the rest of the orbs to vanish as the warm-up ended.

After regaining her stamina, Weiss used the remote to start a new series of simulations. She had it conjure up facsimiles of Beowolves which she quickly dispatched as efficiently as she could. She tried to use as little energy as necessary to deal with each Grimm simulacrum. Almost all were massacred just as quickly as she had dealt with the training targets. The Grimm did have some variance in difficulty causing some to put up more resistance to their artificial demise. There was a time where she would have kept a running tally of the slain, but that had been a different time in her life. She had learned to let go of the past. It did Weiss no good to hang onto the unobtainable past.

Gradually her mind wearied, muscles tired, and stomach emptied. Weiss could feel that it was a mistake to completely abstain from lunch's sustenance. She knew that she was getting to her limit and would have to stop. After two more Beowolves, she dropped Myrtenaster and called out the painful words to end the simulation, "I yield."

As a partially materialized Beowolf disintegrated, she returned Myrtenaster to her side. After retrieving the remote, she climbed the ballroom stairs and saw her dinner waiting for her at the dining table. Weiss set the remote down on the table and began to indulge herself in the meal. It was spinach and ricotta tortellini lightly tossed in olive oil. It was a more generous portion than she would have wanted but still small enough that she didn't feel the need to complain. She ate the pasta slowly savoring the meal. Partway through her meal, she pressed a button on the remote turning the lights to half brightness.

* * *

After finishing her dinner, Weiss placed Myrtenaster in the rapier's case and readied herself for bed. During her meal exhaustion had hit her quite heavily, so she decided to retire to her bed after dinner. Whether she would fall asleep or not would be a different matter entirely. She showered, brushed her teeth, and got into her light blue nightgown.

Weiss grabbed the art book to put away and headed for her study. She stopped suddenly just after passing her bedroom door. Something was off about her bedroom. She scanned the room, trying to pinpoint what was amiss. She didn't see any intruder. Weiss stopped for a second and scoffed at the idea of an intruder being in her quarters. She continued searching for anything out of its proper place. She felt like she was missing something frighteningly obvious. She just couldn't quite put her finger on what was off. It seemed to be just in the corner of her, in her peripheral vision. It was just outside of her perception. She abruptly whipped around looking behind herself. She turned around again still not seeing anything. Her eyes came to rest on the bathroom door. Her body went rigid and the book slipped from her grasp as she began to be filled with dread. It felt like her mind was circling a drain as she carefully took two steps backwards. She pulled her eyes away from the bathroom door. Her eyes slowly grated right across the wall to the ballroom door. She stared at the ballroom door in horror. She slid to her right until she was in the center of her room keeping her eyes trained on the door. Frozen, she glanced to her right and saw _Vale Barrier Mountains: Grace_. She glanced behind her and saw her bed. She squeezed her eyes shut and turned to her left. Her eyes snapped open and she immediately stumbled back several paces. She stared at her bedroom door with terror writhing through her veins. Her heart drummed in her ears as she stared paralyzed at the door that led out of her room, out of her suite, to the outside world.

Weiss thought she was done with this. She thought she was in control.

Weiss shook her head at the door but it refused to be dismissed so easily.

Weiss thought this had ended.

Despite the trepidation that it filled her with, she still felt drawn to the abomination that was the door. It held its immeasurable temptation over her.

She slowly, gently moved towards the door. Taking small steps, Weiss gradually approached the door. She moved as if she was trying not to startle a wild animal. She reached out shaking a hand and placed on the doorknob. She twisted the knob and pulled the door open.

It was like staring through a gateway to another world, to another era. Weiss stared wide-eyed at the blues, whites, and silvers that were so unfamiliar, so foreign to her senses. They were familiar from her quarters and from that ancient time ago that she had tread these walls. The colors looked ghostly, nothing but pale reflections of what they once were. She took a step through the door. This place, this manor, this not-home had a bizarre unfamiliar, distant familiarity to it.

Looking around, Weiss turned and turned and turned until she was practically spinning. She stopped rigidly when she saw a short figure emerge from the double doors at the end of the hallway. The figure was approaching her and her legs seemed to be carrying her towards the figure. They stopped a couple of meters away from each other staring at each other speechless.

It was a short balding brown-haired man with a large mustache. He had soft brown, caring eyes. He wore navy blue pants, shoes, and vest on top of a white shirt and a light blue tie. Looking into his eyes she was hit with a massive wave of familiarity. Looking at the man like he was a stranger made her feel like she had forgotten one of her closest family members.

"Klein," Weiss choked.

The man in front of her did indeed resemble the Schnee family butler, but there were differences between this man and the beloved butler. He stood a little shorter than she did the top of his head coming up to her eyes while the butler that she had known so well had towered over her. The man's face was streaked with weariness, his hair had hints of gray creeping in on it, and his eyes had a haunting pain behind their warmth.

Before she knew what she was doing, Weiss felt her hand slapping across the man's face. As her hand made contact with the face, reality hit her hard like a punch in the gut.

This _was_ Klein.

That _was_ her door.

Klein's eyes flashed red for an excruciating moment before softening to pink. Weiss stumbled back from him almost falling to the ground before he caught in a firm grip.

"Weiss," he whispered barely audible in the silent hallway.

"Klein," she sniffed, tears filling her eyes.

Klein pulled her closer as tears began to pour down her face.

"Klein," Weiss sobbed into the butler's shoulder, "I... I don't even know how old I am."

* * *

**Author's Notes: I accidentally deleted/lost five paragraphs of author's notes, so you just get a summary of what I had there. Sorry.**

**This chapter isn't as polished as I hoped it would be, so I might come back and edit this chapter at some later date.**

**Weiss' current situation is a result of the addition of Manifestation to Remnant's hard magic system (it is a hard magic system even if they call it something more along the lines of science in my opinion). In this AU the magic system has four major parts to it: Dust, Aura, Semblance, and Manifestation. Manifestation is a rarer and somewhat taboo part of the magic system.**

**I have plenty more planned for this story, but I'm not going to do all too much more if literally no one is interested in the story I have to tell. The plan is that I will be posting several more whether people seem interested or not because a single chapter isn't much to catch attention. If however, I have caught your attention this early on I would like to know for it would motivate me to get more posted at a faster rate.**

**I thought that I would note that I am extremely new to, and for that reason, there are several things that might be off about how I am publishing this. One thing is that I decided to publish this under a higher rating than I think it is going to go, but I want to be careful and would rather post under too high of a rating than to low. Things may be a bit of a bumpy ride as I try to figure this website out.**

**There were a couple of other important things that were supposed to go in this author's note, but I forgot what they were. I might put them in the chapter 2 author's notes.**


	2. Not What Was Planned

**Author's Notes: This is a chapter that probably feels familiar and a little redundant, but it has some important stuff in it. More author's notes at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 2

Not What Was Planned

Ruby's scroll pinged in her pocket. She stepped into the nearest open shop to check her scroll. The part of town she was in was a little on the shady side of things and evening was drawing near. It was better to be safe than sorry, wasn't it?

Ruby waved at the clerk at the cash register. He was an aging man with balding gray hair and bushy gray eyebrows.

"How may I help you?" the man asked in greeting with a shaky voice.

"Oh. Um. I'm just window shopping for now," she replied, pulling out her scroll, "but I'll let you know right away if I need any help."

She headed straight for the aisle furthest from the cash register so the clerk wouldn't see that she was just using the shop as a refuge to check her scroll. Stepping in front of a magazine rack she unlocked her scroll. Ruby expected a text from Yang inquiring when Ruby would be home. By home that would be more like current residence, lodgings, or bed and sometimes meals. Home away from home was the title Ruby settled on.

Her eyes widened as she gazed down at the alert on her scroll. She quickly pulled up her custom headphones from around her neck as well as her hood to cover up her headphones. She then pressed play on Penny's brand new song, "Beacons".

It sang of four beacons of hope that would bring us to the end. It sang of trials and growth. It sang of endings that would be new beginnings. At the end of the song, her scroll went onto one of Penny's older songs. Ruby pondered some of the symbolism in the song. Penny's songs always had a certain depth to them that Ruby never found in other music. She picked up her favorite weapons magazine and thumbed through it to give herself more of the appearance of window shopping. She was about to change the song back to "Beacons" when she heard a distant voice.

It sounded like someone was trying to get her attention. For a moment it felt like she couldn't breathe. She didn't want to talk to a stranger. It was in the very word. They were stranger than she was, and she could be rather strange at times. Ruby pulled in a deep breath, as the stranger roughly placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her towards him, knocking down her hood.

Ruby took in the situation as the man pointed at his ear. She happily concluded that talking would not be the objective. The man before her was a mere goon of Junior, a man she had seen Yang beat to a pulp less than an hour ago. Before Junior had been sent flying through his own club's window, Ruby's attention had been drawn to the club when she saw a couple of men dressed in clothes that screamed goon flee the building. The man before her wore the same uniform as the thugs she'd seen earlier. He wore black on black. Black button-up shirt tucked into black pants over black shoes. He wore a red tie and a pair of heavily red-tinted sunglasses. Other than the red sabre that the man was pointing at her, he looked rather lame and goonly.

If goonly was a word that is. She'd have to ask someone later.

His crimson short sword did interest her mildly. Although it was rather plain, the metal itself was red which was a little unusual.

Refocusing on the man, Ruby noticed that he was still pointing at his ear with a look of growing annoyance on his face. Was he trying to hear something? No. Ooh. She was supposed to listen to him. She slipped her scroll in her pocket and pulled her headphones down.

"I said put your hands in the air," the man commanded her, "now!"

"Are you robbing me?" Ruby asked politely with a tilt of her head.

"Yes!" came his exasperated response.

Fighting would definitely be considered self-defense at this point. It had to be. Right?

"Ohh," came her reply, happy to have the chance to test her mettle.

Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose and took advantage of the man's open stance. She used her Semblance to burst forward, closing the gap between them and slamming the still collapsed Crescent Rose into the man's stomach. The man was sent flying into the far wall of the store. A moment later another man dressed in the same black and red uniform stepped into view bringing his pistol up to point at her. Before he could fully raise his pistol, she activated her Semblance again, dashing into him. She ended her Semblance bringing her foot up to his chest, letting her momentum carry her into a flying kick. They crashed through the store's front window.

Ruby landed on her feet leaving the man sprawled out on the asphalt unconscious. She unfolded Crescent Rose turning back to look at the shop. Three goons wielding red sabres protectively surrounding a man in a bowler hat stared at her in shock. She spun her scythe in a flourish slamming it into the ground and stared back at them with determination.

"Okay," the man in the bowler said with a calculating calmness to his voice. He tilted his head towards the front door, "Get her."

The men around him were instantly pulled out of their daze. They rushed out the door, charging towards her. As the first one swung his sabre down, she jumped up above Crescent Rose to dodge the blade. She spun with one hand on her weapon, bringing both her feet slamming into the man's head. With a yank, she dislodged Crescent Rose from the ground and used her momentum from the spin to put some distance between her and the others. She waited a moment with her back to them.

When they drew closer she pulled the trigger on Crescent Rose sending herself into another spin with the momentum from the recoil. The back of the scythe slammed into the man who had been approaching her. In a fluid motion, she changed the spin of the scythe from horizontal to vertical, slamming the man into the ground.

Ruby fired after a moment and activated her semblance to put some distance between her and the final goon who had pulled out an automatic weapon. Using her Semblance dodged his shots till she had closed the distance between them. Using her extreme speed, she slammed her scythe into him knocking him into the air. She stuck the blade of her scythe into the ground allowing her momentum to carry her into a spin that brought her into the air when she pulled the weapon out of the ground. She slammed Crescent Rose down on him once again sending him to the ground.

He landed at the feet of the man in the bowler. Ruby took a moment to scrutinize the leader. There was something distinctly familiar about the man. The man was expensively dressed in black pants, brown shoes, black gloves, a gray scarf, and a white coat. The bowler was black with a red band and a black feather stuck on the left side. Between his lips sat an expensive cigar. It sat atop red hair that came down and covered his right eye completely. His exposed left eye was dark green. There was a casual cruelty in his eye, a cutting wit holding up the corners of his mouth, and a conscious callousness in his stride as he stepped over the fallen man at his feet. He twirled a cane in his right hand.

"You were worth every cent," bowler man said to the bodies littering the street "truly you were."

He turned to Ruby, pulling out his cigar, "Well, Red, I think we can all say it has been an eventful evening." He dropped his cigar and smashed it with his cane, "and as much as I'd love to stick around," he pointed his cane at her and the bottom popped open to become a crosshair, "I'm afraid this is where we part ways."

A blindingly bright, large blast of red Dust rocketed towards her. She bolted up into the air with her Semblance and landed ready to fight. Only the man was nowhere to be seen. Ruby scanned her surroundings for the man. Catching a glimpse of the white coat at the top of a ladder she sprinted towards it.

Once she reached the top the ladder, she changed Crescent rose into its sniper configuration. The man was already in an airship pulling away from the building.

"End of the line, Red," he called down to her as he tossed a red Dust crystal down to her feet.

No. Two Dust crystals one behind her and one in front.

He fired a blast of his cane at each crystal before they had even hit the roof.

* * *

Bright fluorescent lights and the sharp scent of antiseptic assaulted Ruby's senses as consciousness poured into her. She glanced around the room as memories came back to her.

After Professor Glynda Goodwitch had found Ruby injured on the roof of the building, the professor had taken Ruby to the hospital. Professor Goodwitch had given a presentation about Beacon Academy at Signal Academy just a couple of months ago. She had seemed rather strict and cold at the time, but Ruby saw the huntress side of the professor tonight. She was a woman who was driven to keep and put everything in its just and right place. Although the woman was still cold in demeanor, Ruby could see a side of her that was passionate about her calling and willing to do beyond what was required of her.

The professor had checked Ruby into the emergency room of Vale General and told the medical staff assigned to Ruby to charge Beacon Academy with Ruby's medical bill. She had an extensive list of mostly minor injuries as well as something to do with her head. A lot of details seemed rather fuzzy and vague which either was caused by the head injury or caused the head injury. One of those seemed distinctly wrong, and Ruby was distantly concerned that she did not know which.

Glynda told her that the staff had cleared Ruby to leave. After Ruby gave her the name of the strange man she and Yang were staying with, the professor was immediately off to contact the man to get Ruby a ride home. Ruby was mostly just left rest for a while after that. Her much-needed rest was briefly interrupted when Glynda briefly yelled into her phone, but Ruby quickly fell back to sleep.

Ruby, now conscious once again, peered around the room for any changes. Professor Goodwitch was sitting in a chair next to Ruby's hospital bed tapping her foot with an uneasy expression on her face. The uneasiness on the huntress' face looked very out of place and not an expression that had ever spent much time on her stern features.

Ruby coughed lightly to draw the professor's attention.

Glynda stopped tapping her foot, stood, and froze her expression into a very strict one that she seemed much more comfortable to wear.

"Miss Rose," Professor Goodwitch started as she began to pace in front of Ruby's bed with an authoritative stride and a rigid posture, "there is someone here to see you, but before they do I wanted to have a quick word with you."

"First of all, while I do think what you did is heroic and that you as a person might be positively brimming with heroism, I personally do not put much stock in heroism. I think what you did was not courageous but foolhardy. You put yourself, a barely moderately trained huntress, into excessive danger that could have been avoided. Secondly, you are not to inform anyone outside of those that you receive specific permission from me or my superior to tell about my whereabouts tonight. Thirdly, you will understand this in a minute, but if you are not ready, take your time," Glynda turned back to Ruby and put her hand on the door, "Lastly, you are injured, do keep that in mind and take care of yourself."

With that Professor Glynda Goodwitch strode out the door and vanished around the corner.

After a minute of reviewing the professor's parting words, the door opened to reveal a familiar figure. A grey-haired man dressed in grey, green, and gold stood in the doorway. He wasn't a particularly large man, yet his presence was incredibly imposing. His eyes had a certain inviting fire in them, and his smile radiated warmth. He carried a plate of freshly cooked chocolate chip cookies in one hand and a steaming Styrofoam cup of hot chocolate in the other.

"Ruby Rose," he started as he leaned towards her and gazed deeply into her eyes, "you have silver eyes."

"Uhh," was all Ruby could muster in response to the unorthodox greeting in her dazed state.

"There are a couple of questions I have for you," he began nodding towards her, "that is if you feel up to answering them."

After a moment she nodded to spur him on.

"Okay, Miss Rose, question one is the most important question I have for you," he said with an expression on his face that only reinforced the importance of his question, "Do you want these cookies?"

After a moment of stunned silence, Ruby nodded emphatically, "Um yes, most definitely!"

The man smiled warmly down at her and handed her the plate of chocolate chip cookies which she began to devour immediately. The chocolate oozed in her mouth filling her mouth with its bittersweet flavor. There was a thin layer of sugar coating each cookie adding to its sweetness and giving a soft crunch to the otherwise soft morsels. They all had a warmth to them that went beyond temperature but the flavor itself seemed to radiate warmth. Ruby Rose was the foremost expert on sweets, and these cookies certainly did take the cake. She'd have to mention that to Yang later. Each and every one of the cookies were perfectly golden brown with just the right amount of chocolate chips to balance out the sugar. Eating the cookies, she realized that she was already feeling a bit better.

"I baked them myself," the man said with a sunny smile on his face as he watched Ruby enjoying his creation.

Ruby stared up at him with an expression of wonderment on her face slowed her consumption as she came to the last two cookies. She pushed them to the side of the plate to save them for later. She continued to stare at the man astonished that such a busy man would have the time in his day to bake such a perfect batch of cookies.

"I don't want to keep you long," he said interrupting her thoughts, "so I shall move onto my next question if you are ready." After a momentary pause in which Ruby nodded for him to continue, he asked, "How did an adorable girl such as yourself learn to fight like you did against the dangerous criminal element?"

"Well I am training to be a huntress at Signal Academy and my family is helping me as well. My uncle, Qrow, is helping me learn to fight with a scythe and understand fighting strategy. My sister is helping with having a person close to my skill level to fight against. My dad helps with moral support," Ruby proclaimed happily before pausing scanning the older man's eyes. She found something trustworthy within them and continued, "My dad, he also helps me understand Manifestation, Aura, and Semblance. He has a quite powerful Manifestation as I am sure you are aware," she trailed off realizing that this man knew both her father and uncle well.

"And after Signal," he said nodding for her to continue.

"Well I intend to go to Beacon Academy to become a fully fledged huntress, so I can truly help other people."

He smiled warmly at her, "I take it that you know who I am."

"You're Professor Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy."

A knock came from the door behind Ozpin. After turning his head to the side to confirm who had knocked, he continued, "As your ride home is here I should probably ask my final question in my trio of question. Would you be averse to the idea of attending Beacon Academy starting this upcoming semester?"

Ruby's jaw dropped as she stared at the headmaster in wide-eyed disbelief.

"Um," seemed to be all she could muster at first.

She sucked in a breath and let words pour from her mouth.

"I would not be averse to the idea of attending Beacon Academy. That is to say that I would love to go. I mean, what? I. As in. What? Me going to Beacon Academy two years early is absurd. I don't want to be rude, but why would I get to go early?"

Ozpin smiled at her with a glint of something bordering on mischief dancing across his eyes, "Because I'm the Headmaster of Beacon Academy and I say so."

With that, he turned to the door and pulled it open revealing a tall green-haired man.

"Dr. Oobleck," the headmaster nodded to the man.

"Professor Ozpin," Oobleck responded with prompt, clipped speech running into the room, "I was not expecting you."

"Oh," Ruby said startled, "I knew I was forgetting someone. Dr. Oobleck, although not family, helps with just about everything else that I didn't mention. He's letting me and Yang stay at his house during the summer while dad is away. He also helps with pretty much everything intellectually."

"Very good," Ozpin responded turning to Oobleck, "I don't have much time at the moment but in summary, Miss Rose will be attending Beacon Academy starting next week."

Ozpin turned and left the room letting the door close behind him.

Oobleck stared at the door as it closed. His eyes flicked to Ruby. Then back to the door and to Ruby again.

"Ruby," he quickly queried, "would you care to enlighten me as to what just happened?"

Ruby paused to think over all the recent events. She had seen Yang beat Junior to a pulp. Penny had released a new song. She had fought off an armed robbery and been injured in the process. She had eaten some truly awesomely scrumptious chocolate chip cookies. She was just told that she would be attending the, arguably, best hunter academy in all of Remnant two years early.

Her mind settled on one thing with the rest of the events just melting for later.

Ruby tilted her head slightly and asked the doctor, professor, hunter, teacher, and her personal tutor, "Is goonly a word?"

* * *

**Author's Notes: I'm a little bit disappointed in this chapter. I hoped for this chapter to be longer, but this is how long it turned out to be with everything it was supposed to have. This chapter is much shorter than I hope any chapter ever is.**

**On a note of success, I am fairly happy with my writing of Ruby's voice. I would like to request that if you leave a review of this you consider telling me what you think of Ruby's voice. Specifically, if Ruby's voice is distinctly different from Weiss', and if it sounds like her. I don't want to be pushy, so just if you have thoughts on this and extra time I am interested in your opinion and thoughts.**

**Lastly, I want to emphasize that I very much do know that "goonly" is not a word.**


End file.
